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In addition to being the title of a fine Beatle album, something new symbolizes both the new family created by a wedding and also describes the many wonderful gifts a marrying couple can expect (most major department stores offer bridal registries to simplify gift selection). Among the new items are such wedding faves as the flowers, with florists taking on something of an "artistic consultant," rivaling even the caterer in importance to the wedding project. There are a bewildering variety of flowers associated with weddings, each with its obscure codified symbology. Virtually every participant in the wedding is festooned with flora of some sort, each with specific requirements. One recent list noted over 35 different flowers to be used in a wedding, from Alstroemeria to Zinnias, each with a highly developed meaning, from strength and constancy to shame and regret, though the latter categories are probably only reserved for cheapo flowers. These traditions date back to the Romans. Though the reason for the ritual is described previously, dowries certainly fall into the "New" category; traditionally, items often found in a dowry were money, beds with sheets, towels, fine pieces of silver, small areas of land, leases to tenements, or ownership of apartments. In modern times, the wedding shower has essentially superceded this practice, with the couple receiving more in the way of practical appliances to start their new home. A relatively recent innovation has been the "Jack and Jill Shower," a unisex gathering which, if viewed charitably offers a more inclusive and wholesome pre-wedding party and, if viewed cynically, provides a far greater potential for wedding loot. Even the infamous Bachelor (or Stag) Party is now often used as a kind of fundraiser for the groom, as tickets are sold, items are raffled and cards are played, a portion of every pot being tithed to the groom (as distinguished from the historically more lurid and debauched aspects which clearly preclude holding this event on the night before the wedding). Another "new" item is the trousseau, or the items gathered for the new house. This is from the French word for bundle, and used to actually contain the clothes, belongings and dowry to be carried away by the bride from the ceremony. Another, less savory type of something new might be the path of adultery, i.e., the taking of a new partner when tired of the current one. The Romans addressed this issue thoroughly, proving fairly severe despite having coined the word "orgy" into common parlance. In 198 AD, one writer observed that the penalties for adultery could be quite severe, and extended even to those who "pimped" their wives! Speaking of sexual offenses in the 14th and 15th centuries, author Brundage says "The popular belief that simple fornication between unmarried persons was neither a sin nor a crime persisted, although this had been classified formally as heresy since 1287." ----------->
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